Dormant Powers Stir
Winter's grip eases,
and the earliest colors of dawning life begin to wash over the field of battle. Rogue powers unaligned with good or ill begin to stir as the cold days start to draw longer. Now comes the New Bloom Festival, a time of great chaos and greater rewards, fated to set the stage for the struggles to come.
The Coming of the Year Beast
The Beast Emerges
Every child knows the tale. Each year, as the dark and cold of winter turns back from its peak, wild energies that have slumbered through the long months begin to twist and pool. From this mire of eldritch power, as the first flowers begin to bloom, the Year Beast takes form to bellow its savagery and its hunger. Yet the same source that imbues the creature with terrible power also fills its being with sparkling Jade, ready to be spent toward unique armaments if it can be mined from its body.
Cycles of Terror
The comings and goings of the Year Beast are cyclical by nature. It is a mysterious creature, flighty and prone to long patrols of its strange, unknowable territory, dispersed across both space and time. For days it may disappear, perhaps tracking its predecessor across the veil of time, only to reappear refreshed and renewed, as if no time had passed at all. Those who hope to defend against the Year Beast must be both vigilant and patient, striking at those rare times when the creature chooses to reveal itself.
Primed for Battle
Facing the Year Beast requires careful preparation. To harm its enchanted hide will require use of both conventional tools as well as more purpose-built armaments. During the New Bloom, as heroes indulge their age-old conflicts and grudges, they may find Flamesalt Ingots. In the hands of an enterprising artisan, these Ingots can be fashioned into several trinkets, including a variety of powerful explosives able to disable, distract, or damage the Year Beast.
Fortune's Favor
Determined to face the Year Beast? Consider purchasing Fortune's Favor, a luck talisman to temporarily increase your Ingot harvest, and allow you to find Jade Tokens to trade toward lockless Bloom Bounties.
Crimson Parcels
Occasionally, heroes will come across Crimson Parcels, which may contain small gifts of Flamesalt Ingots for your defense against the Year Beast, or even Jade Tokens!
Reward yourself through jade
A few of the items you might receive
Craft unique gear using New Bloom Recipes
Keep an eye on your foes with the Fishward
The Beast of the Vermilion Wilds is ready for battle
And for the fiercest foes of the Year Beast:
the elusive Redhoof courier
The Eight Shades of Fortune
An Armory's Offering
Just as the fading chill summons the savagery of the Year Beast, so too does it awaken an essence of prosperous luck. The time has come to prepare your tributes to the Eight Shades of Fortune! Sweep away your bad luck items, your ill-fated arms or couriers earned in tragic battle, by removing them from your Armory to your Offering. Be wary: once you have chosen to remove an item from your Armory to place into your Offering, it cannot be reclaimed.
Fickle Fortune's Smile
The Eight Shades of Fortune gather and disperse of their own whim. On the infrequent day their impulsive nature sees them convene, they will happily accept all poor luck set before them. Should they judge your Offering sufficient and plentiful, they may smile upon you, perhaps rewarding you with rare armor and materials, or Flamesalt Ingots to battle the Year Beast. Though you may be parting with past calamity, such an Offering will never go unrewarded.
The Arena Reborn
With the arrival of the New Bloom, the field of strife awakens from its long slumber. It is a world transformed. Early blossoms cover the trees as they shiver against the fading cold. In these dim days, paper lanterns light the paths where monuments of noble beasts look on toward the coming year. Bold heroes now charge across this refreshed land to offer up their strength to the battle.